The Path To Ruin
by moon dogie
Summary: Five years have passed and the students are now Pillars of the DWMA with Kid as the New reaper. At first small things came to lights and everything was fine, but soon they all noticed something amiss. what did lord Death Leave behind and were is he anyway? The answers will lead us to the unfortunate truth and may rip the foundation of the DWMA asunder. (sequel to Positive Negative)
1. prologue: when things were simple

Disclaimer: we are legally bound to say that the fallowing events are entirely fictitious, the views and opinions; philosophical or uninformed nonsense or otherwise are that of the individuals speaking and hold not truth what-so-ever. All characters relating to Soul Eater are property of the glorious Atushi Okubo and our overlords from FUNIMATION entertainment. (long may they rule!were not worthy! Were not worthy!) the fallowing accounts MAY contain frank descriptions of nudity use of drugs and alcohol, adult themes sexually explicit behavior, colorful language, morally offensive or insensitive acts of extreme violence...if symptoms continue for more than four hours please seek help from a medical professional. Everyone is critique so make sure you say something intelligent before you comment. Feed back and suggestions are appreciated.

And now a short introduction by the author.

I'm going to assume you didn't read my last fan fiction, the last one in this series. No you don't have to read it now trust me you'll be just fine. I'm guna go ahead and lay something heavy on you alright? Its an alternate universe...yeah just got all lovecraftian up in here all of the sudden. In this chapter I'm going to explain most of what happened in the last series throughout the chapter and if your still confused write a review or PM me or tie a note to a brick and chuck it through my window and ill clear it up or you could try and read the last one, anything I didn't get to this chapter ill squeeze in on the next. The last Fanfic got out of hand, I try'd to write a chapter a week and it ended up getting loooong drawn out and sort of confusing. I'm going to try and fix that and clean it up with a fresh start! I may not update every week, I'm no longer holding myself to that but the chapters will be long and of substance. Look if you let me I'm just going to sit here and keep talking so we should get on with it, please enjoy.

(The home of Bill Pickman, New England USA )

"I got stuck with grandads crap after he finally bit the big one." the thirty something of age man paced around his kitchen talking to a friend on the phone. He opened one of the many boxes, the phone still to his ear. "No nothing good, he didn't leave any money ether, just all of his weird shit." he looked down into the box full of necromantic paraphernalia, "no I don't really know what ill do with it, but if its all the same to you I think I'm just going to sell it all and be done with it." he took out a leather book, the book had no identifying markings but the leather it was bound in was twisted and sinister looking, it had to be ancient and weighed at least five pounds. "guilty? Nah. He was a goon anyway, mom always told me not to talk to him." he put the book on his table "because the guy had a freezer full of dead cats that's why." he started to flip through the book. He merely glanced at the book and he became very uneasy. "you there?" his friend on the other line asked but he didn't answer. he looked deep into the swirling ancient text that he could never comprehend and with a small unheard involuntary utterance he suddenly felt as though he had been kicked square in the nuts. He stumbled back and fell on his back side and scrambled across the room with his phone laying on the floor, he curled himself in the corner and looked with eyes peeled wide open straight to the bound book of nightmares and shuttered in a cold sweat. "bill? Dude did you drop the phone in the toilet again?...bill?"

(Death City eye sight clinic)

"Crona stien" the optometrist called from the back room, a tall ghoulish girl with pink hair stood from her seat in the waiting room and shuffled to the room where the eye doctor was waiting. Things had taken an unexpected turn for her. As her awkward thin frame stretched upward making her even taller her vision began to change as well, she began having to squint to read or focus on things far away. Naturally she ignored It not seeing the point in taking time for her own well forced her to ether go or face her wrath. She didn't need that, she already had enough things to be anxious about and if it were up to her she would go on bumping into walls the rest of her life. "is number one better or number two?" Crona had her face to the large optometry scope taking the simple vision test "uh...pass..." the eye doctor turned and looked at her with a curios look. "I'm sorry?" "i pass." "I'm sorry but you cant do that." the doctor had never had anyone try to pass on such a simple question "I'm sorry..b-but they just look the same to me.." Crona fidgeted. If your a well adjusted person (and I know your probably not because your reading fanfiction) then you probably think that crona should have grown out of her socially awkward quarks, at the age of twenty she still has trouble keeping eye contact and stutters like a broken record player, but that's just the way she is and people who call her friend came to accept it as "just something she dose" long ago and didn't expect it to change. "that happens some times, just pick one and we'll move on." Crona focused back on the scope "okay..n-number two." After about fifteen minutes of this she was finally told to go pick some frames, she did, picked out some thick rimmed glasses, a lot of condescending passers by would see this as a typical choice for an almost emo looking fringe dweller such as herself but that thoght never occurred to her and she was well content with them, she briefly considered some thin wire frames with round lenses like her fathers but she decided to try and be original. After she payed for the glasses and left the lenscrafter she sat in her car. She sat in the drivers seat for a moment silently contemplating her next moves. "Crona." she was taken by surprise by the voice. She looked around and her focus closed in on her rear view mirror. In the mirror the face of a pail young man stared back at her, no one was in the back seat or passenger seat, she was alone in the car and yet this young man looked down at her from the mirror. "iv been trying to get ahold of you." "sorry Kid I was in the middle of something.." kid squinted at her looking at the glasses on her face "i see. Interesting." he gave a small menial laugh. "please if you will, I need you to stop by my office, we need to discuss a few things." crona nodded to him. "Maka will be here as well." Crona smiled. "and soul.." the smile on her face died. His attention seemed to turn away from her. "ill be right with you." he turned back. "Pleas be by as soon as you can." "K-Kid wait, I-" he was gone before she could finish and the mirror returned to normal.

(the offic of Lord Death the second, AKA Kid)

"what?" Maka asked spitefully. "i didn't say anything." Soul wrinkled his nose. "why are you looking at me?" "I'm not looking at you, jeez its always you you you." Kid watched them argue like children just like they did when they were partners and that still had not changed after all these years. After a fight about their graduation they usually refused to be in the same room together. "Were the hell is Crona? Lets get her here and get this over with." "Shes buisy its not like we all knew this-" Maka was interrupted as kid intentionally pushed his empty coffee mug over the side of his desk shattering it into a hundred little pieces making a loud crashing noise. They both looked at him and he looked back with a vacant scowl on his face, both Maka and Soul kept quite after that. Crona walked in, everyone looked at her, she felt like shutting the door and going home but instead she mustered the courage to deal with the situation at hand. "Now that your hear im going to have to share some news I know will be unpopular." he looked at a file in front of him, The others stared back at him. "my father kept many many secrets from us, the day that I took his position I knew few of them." he put a hand on his chin covering the four vertical lines painted on his chin and mouth. "More and more come to light each day, And I must say this one is a bit baffling, it seems my father-" he twitched " I'm sorry Crona but I cant focus when your glasses are crooked, pleases straighten them." Crona was slightly irritated but complyd with his neurosis "what is it already?" "its about your graduation." the three of them were silent in remembering that awful time. "you were tricked and lied to, Maka and soul, before Crona joined your team you attempted the proses of collecting ninety nine Kishen souls and one witches soul two time. After wards you failed the proses three more times until I took my fathers position.." by this time they weren't even embarrassed anymore, they caught so much flack over that one part of ther lives that they could no longer feel shame, they graduated, Maka and Crona became three star meisters and soul became a Death sycth. "yeah so?" "the truth is you were sabotaged" soul stood from hes chair and so did maka they were both ready to tare the office apart "Madness!" "that better be a joke man!" kid was unmoved by their belligerence " Its clearly noted on your files that you all had been cleard on your first attempts. Blare the cat also classifys in the database as a witch, a Cat witch." "so this whole time.." Maka sat heavily back in her chair "we were being lied to? We studyd so hard and traind for years and everyone teased us..." "yes I'm afraid so.." there was a long silence "your dad was a dick." soul spat as he flopped I his chair. "why? W-would he do that to us?" Crona was just as upset as the others. " I'm afraid his motives aren't on record and more than likely only he or spirit or possibly professor stein would know why." the others looked at Crona, she knew what they were going to ask next. "Crona why don't you pay you father a visit, Maka and I will discuss your next mission." "so that means I can go now?" soul stood, Kid made a small sigh "yes soul, you may go. Please report back her on Tuesday." he was already halfway to the door "yeah, will do." Crona fallowed behind, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder to Maka, they smiled at one another and went on with business. Soul and Crona didn't speak when they walked down the halls of Kids office, they no longer had access to the Death realm where their old meetings with lord death took place, simply Kid didn't know how to create a portal to the Death Realm like his father and so he had no choice but to carry out his duty as the grim reaper in the world of the living

(meanwhile)

Bill was now in a firm state of terror, three hours had now passed and he had not left that corner that he felt was his last island of sanctuary in an ocean of fear. He could never have read what was on those pages but he would rather have his finger nails ripped from his flesh and force fed to him than to glance at it once more. He began hearing whispers and then began doubting his own sanity. He held onto a foolish hope that someone would come to rescue him from the leather bound terror but no such blessing came his way and hope began to waver.

(Death City, Graveyard

No matter how demented the great Dr. Stien became at times his loyalty to the DWMA never ceased, but there was always something there hidden in his wordplay and in the way he projected his thoughts on the state of being of the entire system that lead one to believe he was hiding something but none could decipher what that was, after all Stien was always unpredictable, his mind was legend to extreme measures of scientific feats, focus that would warp the minds of lesser men but you could never tell what he would focus on. Most recently he had gotten back into an obsession with "improvements" and implants. He believed that augmentation of human ability was the future and he was living testament to this. Visa-vi the giant fucking bolt in head, the Ground screw as it was affectionately named kept his mind from slipping into further madness though this could never cure him he would never wish for such. If it weren't for his life partner inableing some of his more deviant behavior perhaps Kid would have no interest in keeping an eye on him. It was Medusa who was to receive Crona when she came to visit that day. Anyone knowing their past would squint as this as bazar but in the end those days were far away now. Medusa had tried to raise Crona to be hard, without a father figure in her early life she would have needed that, but she failed to do this correctly and ended up screwing Crona up for life, in truth Crona's insanity was inevitable it was purely biology, the proper nurture that a child with her dispossession was maintained but not met by the standard in which it demanded. By the time Medusa realized this Crona had gone from her life, captured by the DWMA and it was then that she slowly began second guessing all the choices that she made. However she would never have known that Crona would befriend her capturers and even join them, and that's when Crona was taken in by and by chance she later learned that he was her father, Medusa knew this all along but she couldn't risk anyone knowing who Crona's father was, as a witch she would most likely be hanged for a romance with the enemy. This created a web of lies and when medusa seased control of the grand witches castle it sent it into a spiral of instability leading to its ultimate destruction. Medusa hid herself amongst the Meisters of the DWMA after a confrontation with her sister lead to a botched attempt on her life only for her to end up in the care of whom refused to turn her over to the authoritys. Medusa has tryd to repent for her actions but still continues to be...Medusa. Time passed and soon she had converted part of Stien's house into an alchemy lab dabbling in her own research, but when their efforts combined it created what some considered a beautiful abomination defining the limits of human morals and yet they seemed to create a glimmer of brigh if not somewhat confused hope for humanity. In the dead stillness of the graveyard Crona could feel the energy of the place, yin and yang, salvation and damnation, sovereignty and corruption sewn together creating a small swirling universe all its own. Death city was in California but still the vast amount of wavelength energy was capable of completely changing the landscape and and lady Medusa's were among the strongest and most defined, the grave yard was always covered in mist these days shrouded in eternal twilight, it was cold, sometimes in the dead summer one would need a jacket. This created a perfect environment for their experiments, sterile and secluded from prying eyes of those who would refuse to understand. Crona trudged down the path having parked her car at the gate, she knew this rode very well as she had often been involved in the shenanigans of her parents. The lab had changed, while the basic white sprawling house still remainder along with the stitches bulging from the walls Medusa didn't have the same taste for industrial architecture like her beloved, instead she believed it needed a witches touch which she adorned it with without so much as Stien's permission to do so. Crona stepped up onto the wooden porch, it had only been built a few years ago but Medusa had it built using old and weathered but strong planks, everything was old like that of corse this was a witch were talking about they like that "all souls eve" type feel. The door had been changed and was now heavy and wooden inlayed with ancient rod iron. Crona pulled on the knocker and tapped it against the door making two loud thuds. She then reached for the doorbell and tapped the button in case whoever was home was in the lab and unable to hear her knocking, the doorbells tome was a maddening high scream of laughter, predictable I guise. Medusa opened the door, she sighed. "oh its just you, never girl scouts.." Crona looked at her flatly. she opened the door a bit wider and smiled "yes, yes come in, wipe your feet and all that garbage." she paused "wait a minute..." Crona turned to face her "whats that one your face?" she looked into her face with an inquisitive look "oh I see... I should have known not to cross my genes with a meister, poor thing now your going blind." Crona sputtered at the back handed statement "d-dad wears glasses!" "yes so his lack of sanity isn't the only thing you inherited." "i didn't c- come here to be insulted!" "i supose you need money for rent then?" Crona again sputtered, she became red in the face "I- I- when do I ever ask for r-rent money? Me and Maka make plenty!" Medusa shook her head and took out her wallet. "fine fine, you don't have to beg sweety." she took out a rather large bill and stuck it in the pocket on the front of Crona's robe where her armor would usually cover. Mostly Crona was confused and a bit frustrated but that's how her mother usually made her feel, at least she saw that Medusa was trying "thanks mom.." "yes, now I must return for my research. Do me a favor and check on your father would you? He's been in his lab for a couple of days now and I haven't heard from him." "you haven't checked on him?" Crona twitched "well I do remember him coming to bed but mostly hes been shut away working on his little artificial organ project." Stien doesn't do 'little projects' at least not in the sence any normal person would consider little. medusa had left in tackt the side of the house Stien carry'd out his work on, Crona noted how the lights were burning dim on that end of the house unlike the other parts, somewhere in the lab Stien must have been using something that required a lot of electrical energy causing the power to fluctuate, that's why they were always paying high electric bills or replacing electrical breakers. Crona opened the main door to be met by darkness, she gritted her teeth , such a darkness made her anxious but once were she would have been paralised in feer she was now unafraid a sorft green glow sparked up and slowly died down again. She strened her eyes past the new lenses to see in the dark, the glow started up once moor and sustained growing in intensity, these were Medical-Mechanica Apothecary jars, Crona knew them well. Human organ growth pods, primitive cloning technology if you will, capable of recycling organic matter and copying specific human organs. They were the best yet made but the company Medical-Mechanica tanked after some red alert wackidoo shit went down in Mabase Japan, something about crazy pink haird ailen bitches on Vespa's...anyway point is these machines were hard to come by but Stien had several. In the glow rose a sinister shadow fallowed ramped by a loud tattering. 'click click click, click click click, click click click CLACK'

(Kid's office)

"Ugustos Pickman was one of the most noted collectors of arcane relics and oddity's on the northeastern side of America, many were envious of his collection. But intelligence suggest that many of the items in his collection were elegal but there was never enough proof, he let few see his collection and even fewer did he let catch sight of his most uncanny of positions. He recently passed away, it was told that he died of a wasting disease but it was clear to our spy's that he was dieing as a result of to many spells and rituals, humans are unable to handle magic like witches do and there are many parals in store for the many who try. His grand son has his collection now but we are only interested one item, you and Crona will collect this item and bring it here." Kid had become used to briefing meisters on missions before he ever took his fathers position, many times he would talk for several hours without stopping for breath since he doesn't need air to live of speak, luckily this mission was straight forward enough he needn't explain much. "i do need to stress that this book is very important, it is the only Italian version of the Necronomicon in existence, there are only three true printings of the Necronomicon in the entire world and we only have one of them, the power this book contains is not of this worled and we will not rest until they are all contained, away from the hand of those who would destroy to foundation of this world." "yep I heard that one before." Maka usually took Kid lightly, when you go to school with someone, eat, drink and hang out with them, -see them cry over weather or not they had folded the toilet paper in their bathroom correctly, open a new package of Fig Newtons because he knew that ONE pastry was facing the wrong way in the package or opened every bottle of a twelve pack of beer and drank equal portions from each because he saw that one bottle contained less than the other- than you would know it is hard to take them seriously even if their your new boss. Maka and Crona were the newest DWMA employees, Crona was the new Apothecary, off duty she acted as the school nurse but seeing as most children didn't look forward to a visit to nurse Crona she wassent very buisy, under circumstances of a mission she was the combat medic her last name preseased her reputation. Maka was the "librarian" both in the normal since taking charge of the massive library of the DWMA and all the secrets it healed, she was also frequently sent out to collect Books, tomes and fragments and even magic trinkets from areas considered to dangerous for students. Now it seems they had a once in a century opportunity, the collection of an actual Necronomicon, not one of the shitty knockoffs you can buy at any hippy shop on a Florida bored walk filled with mere slight of hand card ticks, this truly exited Maka despite her lightness with kid and she now sat forward in her seat, she flattened the chest of her greatcoat waited for dismissal so she could beguine planning the journey. "Maka whatever you do, do not let anyone read from that book, not even Crona and not even yourself. The book is to be brought to me where I will deal with it accordingly. Understood?" "yes lord death." they both paused. "I..I'm just used to..uhm.." "you may go now "

(Franken Stien's laboratory)

"dad." Crona blurted to the rising shadow "huh?" it groaned back "why do you have the lights off?" there was a shuffling sound, then like something metal fell off of a table and hit the concrete floor "oh- that? Yeah that saves electricity, hold on a sec." he cleared his throat "lights on." there was a long silence as the two stood in the darkness. "Lights on!" still the lab was shrouded in darkness "sorry its one of those voice activated lighting systems... LIGHTS O-" crona flipped the light switch on the wall where she was standing. "hah! See there we go!" the gray headed but still youthful stood in the middle of his destroyed laboratory surrounded in papers and tools and stacks of books, specimens lined the shelf's, it was as you would expect from his likes. "hay what happened to your face!" he pointed with a big grin. "m- Maka made me do it..." Crona pushed her glasses up "wow, she really is like her mother, she can talk anyone into anything." he sighed "you marry that woman Crona, marry her! Shes guna do great things!" Crona was confused, she raised her eyebrows "wh- what are we t-talking about again?" he put an arm over her shoulder and pulled her to his side. "Crona you know that behind every great scientist there is an even greater woman.." he seemed to stare off into space "dad." "except Albert Einstein, im pretty sure he was into men." "d-dad!" Crona sputtered "huh? Whats wrong? Do you need money for rent?" "No! w- why do you guys keep insist- I-I-I cant deal with this! I- I cant do it!" she began to hyperventilate. Stien put his hand on her shoulders and shook the living crap out of her "there there its all right! Breathe now! In with the good air out with the bad, in with the good and out with the bad" he said all along shaking her back and forth, her head rattling back and forth. He stopped, Crona moaned in misery as a bit f black liquid leaked from her nose and her head lulled back. "i think you should have a little rest." she stumbled backwards out of his hands and steadied herself on a workbench "n- no dad, look I have a serious q-question" "it'll cost yu." he grinned "what?" "its a dollar a question." "since when?" "since I lost the key to my vending machine and I'm thirsty as hell." Crona sighed and sat in a rolling chair "c- can I please just ask already?" Stien settled down a bit "yeah sure I can see your anxious." he sat in his favorite chair "so what do you need? Crona wrung her hands and gazed into the ground. "did lord death ever lie to me Maka and soul?" "yep" there was a pause "h-h he did?..." "all the time." Crona was slightly taken aback by his demeanor "w- well I guise with his job h d- didn't have a choice." Stien shrugged "i suppose some things." " just some?" Stien seemed distracted "huh? Well..well yeah. I suppose there are times he could have been honest, but he had an image to uphold." Crona was confused by it all. "he lied to you?" Stien nodded. "and you knew that?" "yeah." "w-why would you let him do that?" Stien leaned on the back of the chair, he sat backward on the chair resting his arms on the back "that's what leaders do I guise, especially leaders like lord death. They tell there people lies to keep them in blissful ignorance, but lord death cared and I think that's the difference, if he was trying to shut something away there was usually a very good resin..." "he u-usually had a good resin?" Crona was glad that her father was telling her all this but at the same time it was a little disturbing. "well he covered his own ass a couple of times. For instance before Kid became the new shinigami most of the cafeteria food was laced with very small amounts of steroids and growth hormones." Crona sat forward "what the hell?!" stien made a small laghe "that's why I always packed your lunch." he swayed his chair from side to side "thats why you started growing so much when you moved in with Maka and started eating the free food from the cafeteria." he cleared his throat "so yeah that and things like the secret cameras." Crona's hair stood on end "c-cameras?" "yeah and the sniper gaurds posted on top of the school." "oooookay. I-i dont want to know anymore!" "suit yourself." he smiled her anxiety was only growing, you never tell anyone who has the word 'schizophrenia' on there file shit about cameras and snipers and drugs in the food, Crona is only slightly perinoid but that kind of stuff doesn't help her. "so was that your only question?" "now that I know how m-messed up everything is..i guis it wont hurt to know one more t-thing." her pupils were shrunk behind the lenses. "lord death h-eld Maka and i back a-and we don't know why." Stien narrowed his eyes "oh. Well I suppose he and I were to blame for that one." she didn't know if she really wanted to hear why, but this is what she came for and now she had to deal with it. "you were to good." he rolled slightly forward. "that's how I wish to put it. He couldn't let you three go, we saw something in your team that wasn't in the others. You honestly think after all those souls we would have thought you were just bad meisters? Most of the students wouldn't have attempted the proses twice or three times, but five times? Your team never gave up. If we would have let your team go then well, that would be it, I guise you would have all just buggered off to Australia like Joe or jappan like Asuza. so we held on as long as we could knowing that you would be better for it in the end." Crona stood "dad I have to go." stien held a look of extreme apathy "im sorry you had to figure it all out like that." Crona fidgeted "its okay, I guise I feel better knowing." she said without a stutter which is what really made Stien nervous. He leaned on the back of the chair "do you still need 'rent money'?" she turned "good bye dad."

(New Mexico, In the middle of no were)

Giriko slammed the door closed and turned over the large wardrobe on its side wedging it against to door. he wet to each window and drew the curtens closed. It was only a matter of time befor they would find him, he was running out of safe places to hide and the last time he was sure they saw him, now they were playing with him, they got Free and that Norwegian guy they had been staying with. now they wanted him. he was eight hundred years old but even he couldn't wate out Deth..


	2. The Big Cheese

"Albarn" she heard her name from somewhere deep in the library "yes?" Maka called back in the stillness of the massive room as she returned books to their rightful spot. "phone call, its your fiance." "tell her ill be just a minute." she looked at the spine of a book, if she dident put them back now she wouldn't be able to put all of the books back until she returned from her mission. "she sais its important." Maka looked up and set the book aside, she walked down the isles to where she heard the voice, a thin wirey man with black hair and handlebar mustache held the phone half way to his head and the other behind his back. He held the phone out to Maka. "thank you." she said. She held the phone to her ear but there was silence on the other line "hi crona." she began. "hay." "is something wrong?" silence. "Crona?" "we were right. Everything, everything is wrong." Maka squinted, she put a hand on her hip and looked at the floor. "what did you find out?" "dad told me how we were held back and why." she nodded, then she looked up. The man at the counter stared at her intently. Maka stared back for a short moment, the man returned to filling out papers. "you did a good job. But I dont think we should talk about that now." on the other side crona curled her lips inward a worried squint in her eyes. "o-okay." "we'll talk later." crona nodded. " bey" "bey crona." Maka leaned over the desk and put the phone back on its line. "maka." she heard her name again, this time from a deeper voice from behind her, she turned to sid who stood looking at her with his usual big toothed scoul. "yes?" Sid's expression softened with a hint of embarrassment "you do have the new Hary Potter novel in right?" he asked lowly. Maka was taken aback "yes its...up front.""thanks..if any one asks..." "i didn't see you here." Sid nodded "right." with that they walked away from one another.

(new england USA, TWO AM)

a sinister form appeared at the end of the street growling ominously as it drew closer. The black and white shell of the nineteen thirty six four dore ford gleamed in the streetlight, the blackened windows like slate of pure night. The license plate long expired with "L0RD D3TH" stamped into the metal. The cars engine was silent as a phantom only the faintest of whispers could be heard from the black mist wafting gently from the exhaust. Without a single squeal from the brakes the car came to a stop at Bill Pickmens house. A second passed, the streetlights began to dim over the entire block soon the street was dark. The back door of the car burst open, a long slider figure in tattered roads stood to the back of the car facing the house. The front door opend as well with another occupant standing to the side of the car. Their long faced metallic mask's in the shape of skulls Gothic in nature and their roads concealed all humanity, if they were after all human. A black mist flowed from the back door slowly weaving its way to the door of the house. From inside the house Bill had not moved sence he had opened the book, he was now content to die in that corner, to be free of the images that burned his mind. His doorbell rang even thogh now the power was out for the whole block. He slowly picked his head up. The bell rang once more but he was to week in his mind to get up and answer, the wispers were calling him again, to protect the book, to die for the book, he had to. A heavy fist pounded on the door, again and again. The two figures from the car levitated to the back door the largest figure of them all stood at the front door, his robes were the most complex, his hood reaching a shap peek, his mask carved of bone and inlayed with perfectly symmetrical patters, the eyes were black spiraling pits of doom foresaw only in the waking dreams of our most perceptive of outcast ancestors. It leaned on its sinister three bladed scythe like a cane, holding it like a mourning friend. The figure cocked its white gloved palm and slammed it into the door breaking it off its hinges and flayying into the house only to crash into the kitchen adjacent to it. He stared blankly into the darkness. A primal scream pierced the air as bill flung him self at the roabed figure, he was caught buy one giant hand around his throat and thrown back into the darkness, the firgure levitated into the house. Bill trying to pick himself up but he couldent stand in the presence of the dark figure, it was even worse than the book. "i should kill you." it said with a deep voice that boomed in bills ears like the voice of a god. "your corrupt, I smell it." it pushed bill's head against the floor with its scythe "your but a victim of circumstance." the other two specters floated through the house searching for other occupants. "are you the Devil?" the figure turned its back. "no. even the Beelzebub fears Death." there was a pause as the reality sank in to bills head"no.. no your dead!" lord death picked up the Necronomicon, its binding sisseld and burned in his hands. "this is mine now. Your grand father is lucky to have avoided me all these years. but no one escapes me in the end." "okay quit tormenting him." came a voice from the sythe. Lord Death ignored it "we'll be going now if there's nothing left to see." He turned to the specters behind him "immortals, what have you found?" they floated forward with an arm full of more books lesser though they were, even worse some necromantic paraphernalia. Lord Death shook his head. "burn them, the house as well." "my house?!" Bill sat up "no! Please!" one of the spectors swooped over to him and plucked him from the ground and the other slipped off into another corner of the house. "don't you think thats a little extreme?" came the voice again from his scythe, lord death slipped the Necronomicon into his road. "a casualty of the inquisition spirit." he said as flames began to crawl up the walls of the kitchen, he vanished into a black mist that scattered in the breeze.

( twelve hours later.)

"no." Maka stood with her phone to her ear. One palm on her face "nooo.." she shook her head in a loss for words from her frustration "i say that because I'm standing right here were this guys house used to be and all that's left are ashes." she looked over to Crona who ignored the police tape and walked up to the burnt skeletal remains of the house "i wish I could be more descriptive but all we have are ashes, there isn't anyone around...well the guy probably caught wind that we were coming and burned the place himself. We'll get the police to post an APB in the area." she leaned against the car. "no promises.." she hung up she watched Crona sift through the ashes but she wasn't having any luck finding something of use. A few people strolled by on the sunny peaceful day and some stopped and looked at the house. "you kids shouldn't be playing in there." an elderly woman in white jogging attire said. Maka smiled at her, she squared her shoulders to act professional. "were investigating ma'am." the woman seemed intrigued "are you reporters?" "were from the DWMA." maka said looking for her credentals, she took out the little leather paper keeper and flashed her ID. The woman seemed satisfied by the answer. "did you know the man who lived here?" Maka came closer to her on the sidewalk. "i knew his grandfather, his son died a while back then he passed away, the poor man, and now his grand son has disappeared. The pickman fammily's been all but mowed down in half a year." she seemed apathetic for their situation. "do you know anyone who would want to hurt bill?" the old woman shrugged. "like I said I didn't know the boy so well." Maka knew that there was something the woman wasn't telling her. "with a grand father like his, I'm sure you've herd things." the old woman agreed, she nodded slightly. "where do you think bill is now?" the woman leaned in "well I do hear he frequents the men's bath house." Maka was surprised at that answer. "i don't know that he would go there if he was in trouble. Any friends he would stay with? Any visitors?" the woman shook her head "I'm sorry..i got nothing." "that's okay, if you think of anything pleas talk to the authority's." Crona approached, her porcelain face stained with ashes, she turned her head to the woman, she silently waved. The woman suddenly became timid. "as you were.." she gently jogged away and after she was a bit aways she began to sprint. Crona rounded the car and opened the drivers side door, she sat heavily in the seat. "now what?" Maka sat in the passenger seat. "investigate." "can we take lunch first?" maka rolled her eyes "what ever happened to that self deprivation thing?" "I discovered

the joy of red meat, and so did my blood." crona started the car. "wow, its almost like soul never left."

(and yes I know you cant drive from California to New England in twelve hours, its a bloody cartoon.)

it was true, back in the day Crona usualy only ate once a day, by choice, but the resins were all in her head. She didn't eat because she didn't feel like she deserved it, just like many other things. She punished herself for her past by depriving her self of food and of the things she wanted. Eventually she out grew some of that. She started eating healthy portions but no amount of food could fill out her skeletal frame when the black blood constantly ate away all non-essential fat and nutrience for fuel.

But the extra intake made it even more powerful and she soon learned to use the effects of her diet to her advantage. Iron was most essential mineral to the health of a black blood cell, it gave it "the attitude", in essence its aggressive self defensive nature responsible for her ability to attack efectivly with the blood using bloody needle and such. Fat helped in the healing aspects, weaving stored fat into new bodily tissue like skin and even muscle. At twelve o-clock she sat in the parking lot of a "Big Kahuna Burger" burger-shopery stuffing her face with a number seven with frys because she is an American. Maka sat next to her studying a file on Bill Pickanm that they had acquired at the hall of records. "the guy is gone without a trace, the last Pickman alive is Barbra Pickman, his mother, shes in a nursing home, she has heavy dementia." "any history on the family? Where do they come from?" crona asked through a mouth full. She swallowed after remembering her manners. "what kind of ties did they h-have?" Maka huffed "its funny, uh. There's nothing documented before 1917 when ugustos Pickman migrated from a town somewhere in America called Dunwhich" crona repulsed slightly just hearing the name. "that sounds like an awful place." Maka shrugged "couldn't be worse than Silent Hill, that place is a dump." she closed the file and sat back in her seat. "so what then?" "so, we have nothing. We've looked and we've come up dry, chances are the book Kid wanted burned in the fire, probably along with bill. Both were more than likely incinerated. Youll probably find whats left of him on the bottom of your shoe." she sighed. "it would be a waist of time to stay here and look when there's nothing to go-" suddenly something slammed into the roof of the car, hard enogh to make it shake violently. Crona dropped the remainder of her burger. "s-son of bitch!" Crona cursed, she tossed the wrapper aside. Maka put her hand just inside of the great coat. They both stepped out of the car in a synchronized fasion and looked to the top of the car. A long tattered specter stood on top of the car. It looked down at Crona. "dont move!" Maka said with a Luger pointed right for center of mass. "step down from the car and lay on the ground." it looked at Maka with the lack of concern you would expect from the undead. Maka shot twice, but it dident even flinch. The iron mask sunken into the cowl shuttered, an odd hum filled the air. The horrid thing unleashed a scream similar to Crona's old screech resonance, maka was literally blown away, at least thirty feet. It watched her as she picked her self up off the ground, suddenly the specter fealt something wet and sloppy hit the back of it's road. Crona threw the remainder of her hamburger at is head. "you like wasting food? Do you think that's funny? Think of all the starving children!" she looked down at the roof of her car. "and my car! I had the only Caviler in the state of california that doesn't have a dint in it and you ruin it!" she scolded the wraith fiercely, the specter was taken aback by this. "e-explain yourself mister ghost!" the specter hissed and screamed once more. Crona cringed and grit her teeth. Two more bullets pierced the roab. Maka sprinted toward the car and lept onto the hood of the car much to Crona's dismay, she accidentally kicked off one of the windshield wipers. A fast set of motions ensued, the specters mask being thrown into the air and three thick lacerations carved into Maka's chest, she fell back onto the hood causing a small crack in the windshield. Crona looked up into the cowl. It was nothing but spiraling darkness. Quickly she yanked the robe with force, the robe fealt as though it were pulled right off of something of mass but it fell laisely to the ground and nothing was there. They both stood there dumb founded. The attacker was not invisible, it simply was no longer there. Maka sat up and looked at the deep cuts into her skin, they were certainly real. the blackish red blood seeped from the wounds unable to heal at the rate crona was capable, but that sort of blow would have disemboweled a normal person. "wow they really don't make em like the used to..." Maka put her feet on the ground. Crona's eyes were fixed on Maka's chest, her expression was wide and empty. Maka looked down to see her shirt which had been ripped open exposeing her breasts. "your just the worst kind of person." Maka shook her head. Crona looked away "huh? What? Your hurt, I-i was making sure you were okay." "shut up and look around. Make sure theres nothing else, im going to report this to Kid. that attack couldn't have been random." Crona was looking at her chest again "quit it!" she threw a book at Crona's head knocking her through the air with a solid thud. Crona sat up and rubbed her head. "cant even look at my own fiance..." she sulked. She staggered to her feet. That things mask was sitting on the pavement, she walked over to it and looked at it on the ground for a moment, she knelt down and picked it up and examined it. Heavy, some sort of cast metal with a chrome finish, it had some fine engraving around the edges, quite a trick considering the density of the metal. It peeked her curiosity, she healed it up to her face and looked thought the eye holes...then she really wished that she hadn't. Looking thogh the eyes of the mask they sky was ablaze with a neon cyan haze. She could see the stars glimmering. The fast food place and the city around her, the people, she could see there particles and atoms swimming around but confined to their shape. She could see the dirt under the concrete on which she stood, the gas in the tank of her car and petroleum molecules whiten the fuel. She pulled the mask away. And looked around. It was all normal, the world as she knew it. She set it aside. The cloak, upon further examination was just a normal cloak, nothing speacl. Regardless she took them both and placed them inside her trunk and slammed it closed.


End file.
